Yes blisters it seems the NE lapidary club will finally be moving ahead in Derby.First meeting will be held 8th of May at 7.00pm in the old school house in Derby which is part of the museum.From what I can see,the building is set, being the old courthouse with all the rewiring and upgrading done.The machines are sitting in boxes waiting and soon ill be delving into the world of the gem cutter.All welcome though the meeting is next Monday night.Cant wait too try my hand at turning my bag of rocks into something worthwhile.As for creek conditions in the NE of Tasmania,little bit of rain today which wont do much to water levels.Still plenty of digging to be done if one can find solace in bloody freezing water.Though I must say,the water conditions change from creek to creek.The Wyniford is warm as is the main creek comparing to some others.The black is its general cool self though I find the weld to be the warmest.The frome?well that thing is brutally cold.Still waiting for my Thai cut bag of goodies though I don't have very high expectations.I simply knew zero about sapphire in the beginning and am pretty sure I sent a bag of crap over.I guess ill know within the next few weeks.Cheers

Thats great diggin. We havnt got one in st helens although there is heaps of people young and old who do prospecting and fossicking that would relish to have one here but needs the funding and the organizing!....=(more time and effort!) We're out of the state for a while but would be good if you could do a bit of a post on the club itself, eg: how often it will be meeting etc. The wife and i would prob be interested in travelling up from st helens once a month to be part of it, as would a few others i would be thinking! Good luck with it.